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| Suit Against Lock Firm Over Jail Death Dismissed |
| By Associated Press / Mobile Register |
| Published: 05/20/2003 |
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After a four-day jury trial, a judge dismissed a lawsuit against a lock company over an inmate's beating death in the Mobile County Metro Jail in 1999. Monica Henderson sued Southern Steel Co., claiming that locks manufactured by the San Antonio, Texas firm were defective and easily manipulated, allowing inmates to get in and out of their cells at will. Her brother, Louis Horn Jr., was fatally beaten by inmates who picked the locks on their cell doors and attacked him. Mobile County Circuit Judge Joseph 'Rusty' Johnston said evidence presented by Henderson's lawyers was not enough to send the case to the jury. Johnston issued a directed verdict against the plaintiffs. Gerald Watkins was convicted of murdering Horn. A co-defendant in the case, Terrance Lorenzo Mosley, was later convicted of manslaughter. Watkins told jurors last week that he was able to figure out how to pick the jail locks during idle hours. 'I didn't have nothing to do one day,' Watkins said. Using a piece of string, he said, he learned how to 'pop the locks. I been doing it ever since. It was fun.' The lock firm's lawyers contended the locks were not defective, blaming jail personnel for poor maintenance of the cell locks and inattention to the inmates. |
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